Toothbrushes are well known in the art.
In general, a toothbrush comprises a head having a plurality of bristles extending therefrom, and a handle adapted to be grasped by the hand of the user.
In the typical situation, dentifrice is applied to the bristles of the toothbrush prior to the commencement of brushing. This is generally accomplished by grasping the handle of the toothbrush in one hand and the dentifrice container in the other hand, and then manually applying the dentifrice to the bristles of the toothbrush. Once the user has applied the dentifrice to the toothbrush, the user then commences brushing of the teeth.
Thus, with conventional toothbrushes, the dentifrice is generally held in a container separate from the toothbrush, and applying the dentifrice to the bristles of the toothbrush is a two-hand operation.
It has been recognized that it would be advantageous to provide an improved toothbrush having a supply of dentifrice located within the handle of the toothbrush, and a dispenser mechanism for dispensing the stored dentifrice to the bristles of the toothbrush for application to the teeth when the need arises.
In the past, there have been a number of proposals for achieving the foregoing, but all of these proposals are believed to suffer from one or more significant disadvantages, including ineffectiveness of operation, lack of durability, unattractiveness of appearance, prohibitive cost of manufacture, etc.